The beginning of 2025 sees a significant event: on April 21, Pope Francis passes away, leaving the papacy vacant for his successor: Leo XIV. This event provides an opportunity for us to delve back into the magical archives, and more specifically into political and religious caricatures where a conjurer is never far away…!
Pope Pius VI
Let's go back a few centuries, to the 1780s. The reigning Pope is Pius VI, the 250th head of the Catholic Church. His position is challenging, as Pius VI has to contend with numerous upheavals, including the French Revolution that erupted in 1789. He firmly opposed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 1790, which placed the Church of France under the authority of the State, leading to a rupture with the Revolution.
In 1796, French troops invaded the Papal States; Pius VI was forced to cede territories and works of art. The following year, Rome was invaded, the Roman Republic was proclaimed, and Pius VI was taken prisoner. He died in exile in Valence in 1799, marking the tragic end of his pontificate in the face of the new ideas of the Revolution.
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It is in this tense political context that a rather surprising engraving, depicting Pope Pius VI... as a conjurer!, was published in Paris around 1791.
The Pope is depicted, wand in hand, in front of a table on which rest three large cups. Everything seems ready to make the nutmegs placed on the cups disappear!
Detail of the engraving
Next to this magic scene, one can see a man spitting a liquid into a container. One might see this as a new kind of holy water, if it didn't also evoke a magical effect: water swallowed, then regurgitated at will by the artist. The French Floram Marchand and Blaise de Manfre both performed this rather original effect.
We could delve even further into this engraving of the conjurer pope, as it is rich in political references, but as far as magic is concerned, that's the main point! It's important to know that the art of caricature has very often been, and continues to be, a formidable pretext for depicting a magician making either freedom or a sum of money disappear with his cups... but we will return to that in a future article!
